Looks like this is actually happening.....
Phoenix has selected a Chicago developer to build the city's largest and tallest residential high-rise in downtown, a 34-story glass tower that will change the city's skyline.
Plans for the massive development, known as Phoenix Central Station, include about 475 apartments, 30,000 square feet of commercial space and a dog park. It will meld those uses with a bustling transit hub already on the site at 300 N. Central Avenue.
Smith Partners LLC is expected to begin construction on the $82 million development by August 2015 and open its doors in 2017.
Phoenix leaders said Central Station will bolster the cultural and economic renaissance underway in the downtown core. The area has transformed in recent years as the city has invested heavily in a light-rail system and incentives to lure large developments.
Attracting more residents, officials said, is the next step toward attracting new amenities and keeping downtown's restaurants, bars and shops in business. David Krietor, CEO of the marketing and planning group Downtown Phoenix Inc., said the Central Station project has the potential to create an entirely new neighborhood within downtown, bringing more than 600 people to a lot that currently serves a limited purpose as a bus and light-rail stop.
"We really are beginning to develop an extremely vibrant place whose economic success, I think, is helping the rest of the city," Krietor said.
Phoenix owns the land and wanted a project that would integrate with the site's light-rail stations and create a urban environment friendly to residents, shoppers, pedestrians and bicyclists.
Councilwoman Kate Gallego, whose district includes parts of downtown, has emphasized the need to make the project walkable and appealing at the street level by including space for recreation and work areas for budding entrepreneurs.
"Some of the buildings we've built in our downtown have a more suburban feel," she said. "The more you can design the major street spaces to be attractive to pedestrians, the more vibrant it will feel, the more we'll get that active downtown feel that people are beginning to celebrate."
